6:31 PM, May 7, 2014

Michael Loftis was arraigned Wednesday and ordered held on a $1-million bond.

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Nearly 16 years after a Roseville woman was abducted and raped after leaving a bingo game at a Roseville church, her alleged attacker is behind bars in the brutal crime thanks to DNA evidence.

Michael Loftis, 44, of Clinton Township was ordered held on a $1-million bond after arraignment today on first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping, both life felonies, and unlawful imprisonment, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The charges in the July 25, 1998, case were authorized today after new DNA evidence linked the incident to Loftis.

He was taken into custody this morning without incident at his tool-and-die job in Shelby Township, Roseville Police Chief James Berlin said. He declined comment on any statements Loftis made but said he appeared “shocked” at his arrest.

Loftis, who appeared at his arraignment in jail garb, asked 39th District Judge Catherine Steenland for a personal bond so “I can get back to work.” But Steenland, who cited his criminal history and “serious” offenses, said she was ordering “something way different ... than a personal bond.”

If Loftis posts bond, he is to have no contact with the victim’s family or any potential witnesses. Steenland entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf, ordered a court-appointed attorney for him and set his preliminary examination for May 14.

The 62-year-old victim, who died of natural causes in 2011 at age 75, was abducted after she left a bingo game at Sacred Heart Church Festival. Berlin said the suspect tried to rob her, but she didn’t have any money.

She was pushed into her car and driven to a liquor store parking lot at 12 Mile and I-94, where she was raped in the car, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office.

She was treated at St. John Macomb Hospital. Lab samples were taken from her clothing and car seat material and processed at the Michigan State Police Crime Lab in Northville.

The resulting DNA profile went unmatched until last year, when State Police received a hit on Loftis, a known Michigan sex offender whose DNA just had been obtained by California law enforcement agencies. Berlin said Loftis, as a sex offender, had to provide a DNA sample when he moved to California under state law there.

When the the DNA hit came back to the 1998 evidence, Roseville detectives teamed with prosecutors and State Police to track down nurses, doctors, lab scientists and police officers involved in the processing of the crime scene 16 years ago. They found medical notes and interview statements to establish the scientific evidence.

Prosecutor Eric Smith, who attended the arraignment along with Berlin and Assistant Prosecutor Steve Fox of the cold case unit, called the crime “horrific.”

He said police were able to “mesh the new technology of DNA along with good old-fashioned shoe leather detective work” to put the case together. He said many resources were poured into the case, including research on the statute of limitations and the fact that the victim is not alive.

“We think we’re in pretty solid legal ground,” Smith said.

Police said Loftis had a 1995 criminal sexual conduct conviction in a similar case in Roseville, in which he kidnapped and raped an unknown woman. At that time, Berlin said, it was not mandatory to get DNA from those convicted.

Roseville Police Detective Brad McKenzie told the court that Loftis was a registered sex offender for that case.

Berlin said authorities don’t believe Loftis offended again but said there could be other victims.

He said detectives have spoken with the victim’s family, who are “up and down with a wave of emotion.” It “reopens old wounds” that their mother suffered at the same time it brings closure.

“The last years of her life were ruined over this incident,” Berlin said.